Then he saw the slender hand of Barry rise and move towards the girl,
slowly, tremblingly, as though one fierce impulse urged him to thrust
her to one side and as though another held back his arm. The doctor
could not watch the girl longer; fear and pity were wringing him as he
lowered his glance to the floor.
Then he heard her cry: "Have you forgotten me, like Bart? Like, Bart,
have you forgotten me, Dan?"
His hand fell to his side and he glided back from her; but now Byrne
could see that the eyes of Barry were looking past the girl, as though
he stared through the solid wood of the door and found his prey beyond
it. The stranger slipped towards the door by which he had entered, with
the great dog slinking at his heels. Kate Cumberland leaned heavily
against the wall, her arm thrown across her face, but there was no
consciousness of her in the face of Barry. Yet at the very door he
paused and straightened; Byrne saw that he was staring towards Joe
Cumberland; and the old man reached a bony hand out.
"Oh, lad," he said softly, "I been waitin' for you years an' years,
seems like!"
Barry crossed the room as noiselessly, as swiftly, as a flying shadow.
"Sit down!" he commanded, and Byrne caught a faint ring in the voice,
like the shiver of metal striking steel.
Joe Cumberland obeyed without a word, and then lay back at full length
upon the couch--a palsy had seized on him, and the hand which rested on
the shoulder of Dan Barry was shaking.
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